Protests, complaints continue over CIO-SP4 vehicle
By
Nick Wakeman
Little has changed for the CIO-SP4 contract vehicle despite a deadline extension and more amendments. Contractors are still concerned about the solicitation and how it is being managed.
An extension for proposals and another tweak to the solicitation has done little to ease the concerns surrounding the $50 billion CIO-SP4 contract vehicle.
The National Institutes of Health's IT Acquisition and Assessment Center issued its ninth amendment on Aug. 2.
NITAAC's latest update there has not led to any of the pending protests to be dismissed. In fact, one protest was filed with the Government Accountability Office on that same day. Seven active protests are at GAO as of this story's publication.
Many of the protests and complaints about CIO-SP4 have focused on how NITAAC is considering past performance and experience, plus what counts for the both the prime and its teammates. That has been a particularly acute concern for small businesses.
The amendments have tried to address those concerns, but many times they seem to only add more confusion.
Comments from readers also raise concerns about NITAAC’s overall management of the contract, especially when it announced the extension of the due date from Aug. 3 to Aug. 20 just the day before, on Aug. 2.
One reader pointed out that many companies had already sent in their proposal, but that NITAAC on July 27 re-issued submission instructions in a final prep for what was the Aug. 3 due date at the time.
“With absolutely no notice there’d be ANOTHER amendment…This is embarrassing. Best in class? We’ve wasted our summer on this 25 percent-backed solicitation,” that person wrote.
“For those who had already submitted, not trusting the NITAAC website, we now have had to rescind our proposals, make corrections and resubmit,” a second person wrote. “This is killing industry and driving unnecessary rework.”
Those items aren’t necessarily the type that get addressed in a protest, particularly a pre-award protest.
But imagine what we’ll see if NITAAC stays the course and makes awards? The complaints will fill my inbox. GAO's docket could get filled with more protests.
The Professional Services Council has it right -- NITAAC needs to pause, gather all of this feedback and issue a clean solicitation and give bidders at least 30 days to respond.
Otherwise this bumpy ride is only going to get bumpier.